Irrational fears

[emjay]

*hugs* to you Neim, as requested

Okay, here's one of my irrational fears. Quinoa. I just can't eat the stuff. I want to and I should do because it's a superfood - very nutritious, it was a staple food of the Incas who I was always fascinated by since I was a kid, and it tastes delicious - like meat despite being a grain. But its texture in my mouth and the way it looks makes me think of caviar - loads of little round balls. So every time I try to eat it I can't get that image out of my mind and every mouthful feels like genocide of all these little fish eggs.

[Cyberman]

Just the usual ones for me. Arachnophobia - if I get it in my head that there might be a spider anywhere near me, I absolutely will not rest until I see it destroyed; which makes it awkward if there actually isn't one. There have been nights as a kid when I have stayed awake and on the alert all through the night, stalking one of the damn things in my bedroom. Or spider central, as they must have called it. Nowadays, I will try to get it removed using the traditional glass and card method to transport it outside where it belongs. But if that's not practical, it has to die. Then of course I will feel terrible for hours at having taken a life.

Acrophobia - I am particularly phobic about heights. I think it might have started when I was very young, something like four or five, when apparently my Dad caught me and my sister with the window wide open and leaning right out of it. We were on the fifteenth floor at the time. He says he had to tiptoe up to us and pull us away, though neither of us remember it. Interestingly, I don't think my sister shares my phobia. It's a weird one, because unlike probably every other phobia, you're actually attracted to the thing that you fear, so you actually have to fight your own instincts to step to the edge. Many years ago on a family holiday to Scotland, we drove and then hiked up a mountain to where there's a flight school. I was fine, because although we were stupid-thousand miles above sea level, I was still on the ground. It wasn't until we went into the gift shop, raised up on a wooden platform, that I was suddenly stupid-thousand miles plus four feet up in the air - and I became a particularly sexy jelly.

Other than those two, nothing else springs to mind.

[Exian]

I have a fear of heights but only in precarious places, not on buildings. So that's probably not irrational. Although, I can think of being on a high place and imagine looking down and my feet will start to tingle. Anybody else have this happen? Try it out.

[emjay]

One day I was on holiday in London and walking along the banks of the river on a path with railings. I had to stay on the right-hand side as far away from the railings as possible, essentially hugging the wall on the other side of the path. The fear wasn't that I would fall in accidentally but that I'd lose control of my will somehow and actually choose to jump in. That was weird. But then I heard that my mum had had a similar fear when she'd been in an opera box; she was afraid that she'd choose to jump down from it and therefore stayed away from the edge.

Anyway, night all

[ignoramus]

Thanks A_BG

igs, that's fucking creepy. one of the reasons I'm not going to Oz: big fucking spiders. *shivers*

It's good you mentioned insects cuz I forgot to say about them too. I hate all sorts of insects. But I'm not sure whether it can be classified as an "irrational" fear.
2 years ago a strange (and big) insect somehow managed to make a 3 storeys jump and get in my room through the window. I didn't know what it was, what can I expect from it and add my insectophobia to all that, it didn't end well for that insect. But I had to beat it for nearly 90 minutes using a phone book since 1984 (400 pages) in order to kill it.

I just can't get the thought of one day I'll open my fridge door and a radiation "evolved" cockroach says;
SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR!

[Thumpalumpacus]

Wasps.
Goddamn enfuckerating wasps.
[...]
So yeah, not a big fan of wasps.

[Exian]

One day I was on holiday in London and walking along the banks of the river on a path with railings. I had to stay on the right-hand side as far away from the railings as possible, essentially hugging the wall on the other side of the path. The fear wasn't that I would fall in accidentally but that I'd lose control of my will somehow and actually choose to jump in. That was weird. But then I heard that my mum had had a similar fear when she'd been in an opera box; she was afraid that she'd choose to jump down from it and therefore stayed away from the edge.

Anyway, night all

Part of my fear of heights is me being afraid that I'll test myself by standing on the edge.

[Thumpalumpacus]

For myself, no irrational fears, really. Roaches give me the goddamned heebeejeebees and I will go an OCD spree to kill them if I see one.

[Exian]

I think my irrational fear is of people attacking me. I'm not a big fan of stores, restaurants, or theaters.

[ignoramus]

I think my irrational fear is of people attacking me. I'm not a big fan of stores, restaurants, or theaters.

Is that really you Justin?